A Mudblood in a Pit of Snakes
by dznyprincess7
Summary: Harry Potter and his friends weren't the only ones who often found themselves at the receiving end of Draco's bullying. But when Draco decides to pick on a Muggle-born Slytherin girl named Sloane, he finds he may have finally met his match.
1. A Mudblood in a Pit of Snakes

"Call me mudblood one more time!" Sloane growled, climbing up from the mess of blankets and pillows she had been sleeping in on the floor before she was so rudely interrupted. She wasn't sure where the boldness came from, but the rage coursing through her veins made the walls of the Slytherin common room feel like they were closing in on her.

It wasn't her fault the stupid Sorting Hat had put her in Slytherin. She hadn't asked to be a Muggle-born in a house full of pureblood supremacists. And she certainly hadn't asked to be singled out by Draco Malfoy.

She'd been sleeping in the Common Room for weeks now. It had become easier than enduring the cruelty of her pureblood roommates, who also despised her for something that wasn't her fault. She didn't have a say in who her parents were or the powers she was born with. Yet here she was paying the price for a series of awful decisions by the universe.

Sloane would have given anything to be smart like the Ravenclaw girls or kind like the girls in Hufflepuff. She would have sacrificed her left kidney for just a fraction of that Gryffindor courage. But, no. Here she was facing off against Draco Malfoy at 3am in the Slytherin common room. This wasn't the first time he had corned her or called her names, but this was the first time he'd done so without an audience. This was the first time it felt truly personal.

"Why are you sleeping on the floor, Mudblood?" Draco spit out the awful name again.

Sloane's fist flew up, but he caught it. His grip was surprisingly strong and was surprised how good it felt to have skin to skin contact with another human.

Draco's icy eyes were shockingly blue up close. Sloane's breath caught in her throat as they made eye contact. She resisted the urge to brush the stray strand of white blond hair out of his face with her free hand so she could see his eyes better. The Malfoy hand gripping her arm was a bright snow white against her own mocha-colored skin. Her heart slammed against her rib cage.

She licked her lips and tried to sound brave. "You wouldn't hit a girl, would ya, Malfoy?"

The look in his eyes was dangerous. He brought his face even closer to hers and snarled.

"You are a disgrace to this house, Sloane."

"And you are a disgrace to the Hogwarts name, Malfoy!" Sloane spit back.

He blinked hard, like she had slapped him. Most Slytherin girls were all too happy to slitter Draco's praises. He had probably never been talked to like this before by any girl other than Granger.

He pushed her back into the wall so fast and hard her back hit the stone. He still held her wrist and his thumb, digging into her skin, was starting to cause a bruise. Images and horror stories ran through her mind. Stories of other mudbloods and half-blood girls beaten and raped by Slytherin boys who truly believed those girls were somehow less than human. Was she about to become another statistic?

"Draco, please." She felt herself start to whimper and looked him right in the eyes. "I'm just trying to sleep."

And then his lips were on hers, but it wasn't forceful. It was soft and sweet and she found herself kissing him back. When he pulled away, she felt his tears on her cheeks.

The look on his face still scared her, but now for a completely different reason. He look utterly and thoroughly broken. She reached out for him, but he released her wrist and pushed her away from him, backing up in a hurry.

"I'm sorry," he whispered and then he was gone.


	2. Roll Out of Bed

Chapter Two

Sloane woke up early the next morning staring up into the emerald green eyes of the metal snake curled above the mantle. It had been harder than usual to sleep on the floor the night before. She'd spent the night in fear that Draco would return with Crabbe and Goyle to torment her. He knew her secret now. He could single-handedly ruin her entire life. And then of course there was that kiss and whatever the hell that meant.

It wasn't until Sloane was getting ready for the day in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the first floor that she wondered what Malfoy was even doing in the Common Room so late at night. What if his hustling of her was just a cover-up so that she wouldn't discover his plan?

Sloane leaned over the dirty cold steel sink toward the dim dirty mirror to brush a heavy layer of dark brown eye shadow across her eyelids. She smeared eyeliner across her lash line, the mask she hid behind. She finished with a double layer of mascara across her long black lashes so they fanned out to frame her big brown eyes.

Sloane stepped back from the mirror and ran her hands through her frizzy mane of black curls into some illusion of semblance. Times like this made her covet Cho Chang's thin straight hair or Ginny Weasley's silky red hair.

Why was she so concerned with her appearance today? There was nothing to be done about her hair or her face or her wrinkled uniform. She wasn't going to become Fleur Delacour overnight.

With one last brush of rosy red blush on the apples of her dark cheeks, Sloane re-packed her makeup bag and hid it in one of the dilapidated stalls. On her way down the stairs to the Grand Hall for breakfast, as fate would have it, she practically ran into Draco and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe and Goyle gawked at her with their permanently snarled faces. Against her will, Sloane's eyes were drawn to Draco's and she immediately regretted it. Gone was the brokenness of the night before. Now, in morning light, his eyes were glittering sapphires, hard and unyielding, a wall instead of a window. His lip curled back cruelly.

"Crabbe and Goyle, is it just me or does the Mudblood look like she just rolled out of bed?" Draco laughed harshly, each peal of laughter pierced her heart like shards of glass. "Even more than usual," he added with a sneer.

Draco made fun of her all the time. It wasn't personal, at least no more than usual. Tears still pricked the back of her eyeballs. She blinked hard. "Bugger off, Malfoy."

"Watch where you're walking, filthy Mudblood," he spit back, spraying spittle on the carpet by her feet.

Sloane resisted the urge to kick his arrogant ass as the boys walked off, chortling laughter trailing behind them. She roughly brushed away a tear, scratching her cheek in the process.

This was stupid. It was just Malfoy. Who gave a damn what he thought? Or how her stomach had felt when he kissed her? Or the imprint of his thumb on her wrist that she still rubbed absently as she walked? He was an abusive prick and an obnoxious git, nothing more.


	3. Pansy Parkinson

Sloane took her normal seat at the end of the long Slytherin table in the Great Hall, swinging her legs over the low wooden bench to join the other Slytherin outcasts and misfits. There was some sort of security and comfort in their numbers at meals, not that it kept other Slytherins from insulting them as a group rather than individuals.

Draco, of course, was sitting in the middle of everything, flocked by his gang of purist bullies and awestruck admirers. Crabbe and Goyle were there, stuffing their faces, but Sloane was much more interested in the girl sitting at Malfoy's right hand.

Pansy Parkinson, widely regarded as the cruelest girl in the entire school. She was strikingly beautiful with sharp eyes that caught every mistake or slip-up or general mocking opportunity. Equal to Draco in cruelty, wit and hatred of muggle-borns, she was also often his partner in crime. The two were close, that was certain. Pavarti even said she saw Draco lying on Pansy's lap on the train to Hogwarts this year. Of course, Pansy was also Sloane's suitemate and the bane of her existence outside of the whole Draco thing.

Pansy and Sloane shared a Slytherin dormitory with Daphne Greengrass, Millicent Bulstrode and Tracey Davis. Pansy had made quick friends with the other girls right away, but reviled Sloane the moment she realized she was muggle-born. At first it was subtle. Not inviting her to sit with them at meals, little digs, judgmental glances. But this year it had elevated to a new level. All of the girls, at Pansy's direction no doubt, had taken to blatantly mocking Sloane and calling her names. When Sloane returned home and pulled back her sheets to find her mattress had been spelled into a puddle of mud, she decided she'd had enough. That was the night she dragged her remaining bedsheets into the common room and set up camp.

Sure, she could have reported Pansy, but she had no proof and the girls were bound to find some way to punish her for being a snitch. So she took to sleeping in the common room and her suitemates resorted to pranks and name calling in classrooms and hallways.

And now there she was, Pansy Parkinson, flirting with the boy who kissed Sloane last night.

When Draco made fun of her this morning, Sloane was sure he was the worst human being who had ever lived and the most undeserving wizard to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts. But now, seeing Pansy fawning all over him, Sloane felt a prick of conceit. Pansy might be the one at his side, but Sloane was the one he had kissed and maybe even the one he wished he was with now.

Sloane lifted her eyes to Draco's to find him staring back. Gone was the arrogant sneer from before, but last night's brokenness hadn't slid back in to take its place. Instead there was a kind of hollowness there, impossible to read. He didn't look away, so neither did she. They were too far to speak to each other, not that they would have, but Sloane could still feel the connection between them surging like an electrical current. She didn't know what it meant. She just knew it was there. She, Sloane Stevens, felt more connected to Draco Malfoy than she'd ever felt to another human being in her entire life.

Noticing he wasn't listening to her, Pansy nudged him. "Whatcha looking at?"

Sloane braced herself for an onslaught of verbal abuse, but Draco simple shook his head. "Nothing. Just zoned out."

When he finally broke eye contact, Sloane's heart leapt into her stomach. Why did he pass up a perfect opportunity to mock her in front of Pansy? Why was he so cruel to her this morning with Crabbe and Goyle and didn't bother with even a half-assed insult now? What happened last night? What the hell did that kiss mean? Where had Draco been going? And what exactly had he apologized for?

It was official. Draco Malfoy was a mystery Sloane had to solve. And she wouldn't stop until she had all the answers she needed.

Authors Note: Sorry chapters have been so short lately! Hope the next few will be a bit longer. Also if you get a chance, please write a quick comment & let me know what you're liking and want to see more of. Thanks for reading!


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